A rumour of a collapsed water well has been circulating around the community of Barriere.
According to Mayor Ward Stamer, that rumour is not true but one of the municipalities wells has recently been over-pumping.
“One of the wells ended up being over-pumped from faulty electronics,” said Stamer. “The faulty electronics caused turbidity in PW3 which resulted in the well needing to be rehabilitated.”
Stamer said the pump in PW3 needs a new screen to be installed in order for it to be brought back online. Council was given a figure for the cost of the rehabilitation of pump PW3 and decided the district was in favour of the work being done to get the well rehabilitated. Residents can expect the well to be running normally in two to three weeks, according to Stamer.
The current water restrictions for the municipality are expected to be lifted by the end of the month.
The District of Barriere sent out notifications to Barriere residents that the community had been put on a Stage 2 Watering Restriction in July following a lightning strike that impacted the municipal water system. Previous to the water restriction, the municipalities main production well, Deep Well 2 (DW2) ended up having a mechanical failure which resulted in the district shutting it down.
Three years ago, the district invested in two new wells. Stamer said those wells were never tested properly and it has been a series of shut-downs and restrictions for the municipality.
“Because the government is so far behind on the Water Sustainability Act and it’s licensing, all we ever had was three days of pumping,” said Stamer. “The wells never had a chance to properly be tested and pumped.”